Questionably Bad Things

I still remember this pretty vividly.  The man never got what he actually deserved (i.e. recognition as a hero and restoration of his good name) and probably never will.

This seems like a good news/bad news/bad news proposition.

I plan on laughing heartily at my hometown's inability to handle 2 inches of snow whenever everyone actually manages to make it back home (so in another 3 days or so).  Until then, here's one writer's take on the reasons behind the gridlock.  I don't necessarily agree with all of her solutions, but her diagnosis of the problem in my view is fairly accurate.

This is a PSA for staying in school somehow.

Responses:

2.  Unrelated to the (hilarious) video, but related to the weather in the South: a lot of people are saying that there was plenty of warning that there would be a snowstorm in Atlanta and that makes the response embarrassing, but I definitely recall a fair amount of doom and gloom from weathermen at least three times a winter about the worst snowstorm in history hitting the city and the result being light drizzle and 40 degrees maybe 95% of the time.  At a certain point, weathermen just sound like the boy who cried wolf.  Maybe if they spent less time at self-defense class and more studying the weather...

4a.  I agreed with this line: "Most often, Obama has generally talked and acted like a man held prisoner by the systems he inherited, rather than the guy in charge of them."  I think one reason ENTJ personality types do well as administrators or CEOs is because they can work through or past pretty heavy criticism and still make systems work.  Obama seems to dwell on GOP criticism more so than past presidents, and he seems to complain a lot more about what he can't do.  The executive order thing sounds a lot like taking his ball and going home.

4b.  I do think the comparison to Clinton is apt.  Clinton started his presidency in a fairly liberal way, pushing a tax increase and championing universal healthcare.  But after the 1994 elections, where the Democrats in Congress got steamrolled, he changed course and governed more like a moderate.  To his credit, he and Congress got a lot of good stuff done after that happened, and much of it was in the spirit of compromise.  In football, there are often coaches who come up with successful schemes that result in wins in one situation, but when they change teams or get a promotion (e.g. from college to the NFL), they find that their once-successful schemes no longer work.  The coaches with enduring success know that they have to adapt their scheme to the players they have and the situations they see.  Obama strikes me as unable to do that.  And it's odd because so much of his campaign rhetoric indicated that this might be a strength.

R2R:

3.  I'm wearing you down over time.

7.  Someone posted it on Facebook.  I was not in the market for sugar-free gummy bears.

8.  See #3 above.  Also, I think the bus was blocking traffic on the other side.

B

Weather forecasters are always prepared.

note the part at the end where he doesn't call out racism

worth it.

I do love me some stevie wonder. and daft punk. and pharrell.

most impressive political article written by a lib i've read in awhile. i looked him up on wikipedia to make sure he was liberal. i'm now interested in his book, which got some serious amy chua/sheryl sandberg criticism:  “A lot of people who have criticized the book online admit they haven’t actually read it,” he said. “They’re going on what other bloggers have said. That is a little disappointing. I think there are a whole lot of smart people who read the blogs who will read the book and make their own judgments.”

responses
1. i loved that stanford email chain; that by itself was probably enough to turn the tide (particularly since all the comments were correcting his grammar. it's like you punching someone and onlookers saying you didn't use the correct form). I also loved the comment to the article where Sherman talks about a hockey game where there was only fighting, no hockey: One time, I attended a boxing match, and a hockey game broke out!!"
in any case, he's more interesting than that turd, russell wilson!!

2. ugh it's so long.
4. you would think that i would find wrestling non-embarrassing at this point in our relationship, but i don't yet.
5. hmm does seem like a good idea. unless they are still constantly telling you to sign up for more sessions. =P
7. why were you reading these reviews? why are these the worst thing ever?
8. but i don't understand why that happened. i mean, you can have a traffic accident at any time - it doesn't back everyone up. and everyone has the same kind of cars. it's not like we all have tire treads on our cars. the other side of the road didn't have the same problem. why?

Testing Limits

I have several links about Richard Sherman.  For starters, calling him a thug is problematic.  That said, he's been known to push the boundaries for a while now.  On balance, I think he's okay.

This article caught a fair amount of flak because of the way it ended and the alleged rough treatment of her gender identity.

This is kinda weird, but I kinda want to go.  It seems way cooler than streaking the Lawn, in any case.

I don't want to go to North Korea, but pro wrestlers did once upon a time and embarrassed themselves far less than Dennis Rodman.

This seems like a good idea.

This is my Apple Store!  The horror!

The reviews for these gummy bears are... something.

If you don't believe me that Atlanta can't handle snow, well, they got 2 inches yesterday, and here's what happened.

Responses:

1. I'd stand in that line.

2. Articles like this piss off gay people as much as articles like yours do feminists.  By the way, I read one of the articles she linked about her domestic violence issues, and I found it a much more interesting take than I initially thought.  I also assume that such articles piss off feminists even more.

6. That's an interesting take on gender balance.  I think it approaches the question correctly, i.e. apparently equality is not the same as fairness or even equality.

B

abandoned spaces

i've done worse things in single digit weather. like go to work.

i referred to this article several times already so here it is.

still trying to figure out obamacare is a net gain or loss. I appreciate how he actually seems to have thought about it - even though i haven't checked the studies.

i'm decorating all wrong

scary and pretty

this is actually a woman's issue i care about

1. i used those same techniques when i got my computer wet. but i still lost the use of a few of the keyboard keys. ah well. i think i would probably just buy a new phone than suck water out with my mouth if i had dropped it in a public restroom though.
2. i just got an app that gives me points for shopping at different stores. i'm begging for them to watch me.
3. eh, i think i'm plateauing in my phone interest - except for texting you of course. =D it's like after email and instagram have been updated, there's not much else for me too look at.
4. i saw that. but i never went there so why get my heart broken and go there now?

Call Me

Here are some helpful tips for if you ever phone is ever submerged in water.

Maybe I have nothing to hide, but maybe mind your business?  I guess you can turn it off.

Speaking of which, maybe we should all turn our phones off a little more.

It's last call at Jay's in Clarendon.

Maybe we procrastinate with our phones at work for emotional reasons.

Responses:

1. This has to stop.  One unintended but completely foreseeable consequence of this campaign is that it makes women look like unempowered victims at every turn.

2. The new Gladwell book has an interesting point on this idea.  We can discuss after I send it to you (probably after the bar).

3. It certainly doesn't foster finding a solution.  In my view, the whole anti-bullying campaign is off the rails, though.

5. Yes, absolutely.

6. That list is hit-or-miss for me, and what you noted is a huge miss.

B

a lot of useless statistics and the dog picture to end all dog pictures

the first time I heard about this magazine cover, the title of the article was "Mindy Kaling finally lands magazine cover!" This article was less flattering although the comments have been overwhelmingly positive for the cover. What this article fails to mention is though ELLE may shoot Mindy and Melissa McCarthy in different ways than their skinny counterparts, it's the only magazine that will put them on a cover at all. (Also found it weird that Mindy Kaling is only person of color so she should be shot in color is weird). Also interesting- if you note on the magazine cover - Lena Dunham and Megyn Kelly are also featured but don't have covers - it's a bit odd.

these statistics don't seem right

these statistics may seem right but in a way don't matter. how does this change how we combat bullying? asian awareness? should I care more/be more outraged that Asians are being bullied than gay kids because I'm Asian and not gay?

not that angora is even fashionable anymore but i'm never buying it. poor bunnies!

would you like to vacation in a treehouse? i might start a little theme - interesting vacation destinations. we started with the international ice festival.

"Soft leafy herbs such a cilantro, mint, basil and parsley, are often interchangeable." What?

responses

1. how is that guy who broke up the kkk in maryland not working as a peacekeeper or something? How has he not won a peace price? who has that kind of patience? in any case, that was an inspiring story. i think i should probably read it every few months.

3. if anything, that article seems to say that when people meet together, dissension arises (so maybe the thing wrong with religion is church. actually that's probably true but there are good and bad things that come out of church. seems that a whole lot of bad is coming out of these churches). 

6. is this like how you hate it being called "a short pant" instead of "short pants"?

8. totally saw that moskowitz article in the paper. purposely chose not to post it here. =P

9. i know i'm from jersey but i'm not THAT big of a springsteen fan. he's a dem after all. =P i haven't been as big a fan of his new stuff (although i think a lot of fans can be huge fans and still not think that much of the new stuff. i think being a huge fan almost requires ranking and not just blindly loving everything. how else will people determine that you're a better fan than that 14-year old who just likes 'fire' because it was on glee? (although to be fair, i saw it on glee and got reacquainted with it. it's definitely his best song besides this other song that i think is his that i heard once in a car that i've been looking for for years. it will haunt me till i die.)

10. i guess good for john boehner though i don't have a lot of faith in him. it's kinda like obamacare - if it ends up working, i feel that it will have gotten there by falling apart in a very lucky way.

It's Science!

I like when things like this happen.  Maybe each side thinks the other is dead wrong (and maybe one actually is), but at least they're talking.  Here is a more powerful example of this phenomenon.

Science can't explain everything, but that's part of the fun.

I just don't see the point of this.  But maybe it's because my least favorite part of religion growing up was going to church so much, so being an atheist for me would primarily be about freeing up my Sundays.  But reading the article, though I saw parts about community, it seems as though they're looking for the point too.

Here's a rebuttal to the student-oriented learning method that's gaining some steam.

I have noticed a shift in both my usage of Netflix and what I can find on Netflix. It's good and bad.

I hate this.  SO MUCH.

Dan Snyder is a bad man.  Sure, he's not the chief antagonist in this story, but 1) he started it out of some mixture of greed and immature petulance, and 2) he didn't take "no" for an answer when he clearly should have.

It's always bizarre to see friends in the newspaper.  It's good that it's not a mugshot, I guess.

I don't know how open-minded you'll be about this article, but at minimum, it's a nice career retrospective about the Boss.

John Boehner... wins?

Responses:

1. This reminds me of the "more guns, less crime" thesis.  Perhaps it doesn't prove that drinking during pregnancy is good, but it makes justifying a hard and fast rule against any drinking during pregnancy quite difficult.  And yes, it's definitely correlation.

2. I saw this as well.  I only skimmed the article because I would prefer to read the book before coming to conclusions, but I'm not terribly interested in reading this book because 1) I would prefer to discuss it with people after reading, and I'm not in a book club, and 2) barring that, I suspect that this book won't be discussed quite as much (it'll be like a one-hit wonder's second single: talked about initially but soon forgotten).

4. That makes a lot of sense.

5. That was the Stuff You Should Know crew.

8. I'll watch when I get home.  You will too. :)

R2R:

4. This goes to the Duck Dynasty question.  The First Amendment applies to the government only, but there is an idea of free speech that is broader than governmental action - one that forms the basis for civic republicanism and self-government.  Maybe the Vikings had the right to terminate Chris Kluwe, and maybe A&E had the right to suspend the Duck Dynasty guy,* but is it a good thing for society when we respond to unwelcome speech with calls to silence, financially punish, or otherwise ostracize the unwelcome speaker?

*As a note, many states, including Louisiana, have laws forbidding employers from terminating their employees on the basis of speech exercised outside the workplace that the employer may find offensive.  There is a separate question of whether this violates the First Amendment rights of the employer, but as it stands, these laws are on the books.  So in certain situations, at minimum there may be a relevant statutory right of free speech that applies against non-governmental entities.

6. I disagree.  Malcolm Gladwell is actually a journalist.  He is a filter, and he's weaving interesting (in his view) scientific studies or historical anecdotes into a compelling narrative.  To the extent that TED Talks are designed to entertain, then there's no difference, but I always thought that the primary goal was to get top thinkers in the same room to push ideas forward.

7. I didn't peg you for a Neil Young fan.

R2R2R:

1. It starts Monday.

2. There's a free description of Taranto's article here.

B

so much good stuff

another call for moderation, or the difference between correlation and causation

amy chua's latest will also likely be controversial. i apologize that this article is utter trash (just look at these successful people. i don't think they think like that based on no knowledge or facts at all.) i for one do think that successful people often have a sense of inferiority - it helps bring out ambition. it comes out a lot in sports success stories.

this was incredibly depressing

the article on change that you've been waiting for - how to change a bunny's ways

winter fear mongering disguised as survival tactics

because we're awesome at making friends but that doesn't necessarily mean quantity

more ideas on getting value from college

i think these videos are supposed to talk about how to understand other viewpoints but i haven't seen them yet

how to raise self-esteem or keep it at the same level

this is already too much to read. but i'm bookmarking this because it's supposed to make you happier in relationships.

responses
1. the first comment on that article was actually really profound. "People [who] have it the hardest have faith. The idea shouldn't be to argue them out of it, like Dawkins may seem to do, but to create less hardship. When less people need God, we will be closer to heaven on Earth."

2. I saw the first 2 eps of community. they were ok. much better than the first ep last season which was probably the worst episode of anything i've ever seen, including sullivan and son.

3. i also heard that obamacare would save the hospitals money in unrecouped costs. so there's that. but so what, some people can't afford insurance. no news there. obama lied about people being able to afford insurance. no news there.

4. i think he may have been cut for his activism but i don't particularly care about his plight. you don't have an absolute right to be an activist and be employed for a football team.
.
5. i think gravity is the best movie of 2013, even though i've only seen the hangover 3 as my other 2013 movie. i've heard a few people saying american hustle is overrated. it would be quite difficult for that movie to live up to its ridiculous hype though. i want to see frozen.

6. maybe i'm missing something but isn't the problem not TED but Malcolm Gladwell? And isn't it the problem that the scientists that communicate the best get the most grants even though they might not be the most brilliant or the most worthy?

7. that song really describes both our 2013's.

r2r

1. i would be up for doing the detox

2. what is that wsj article about? it's blocked. your philosophy makes sense and so does this woman's philosophy - kinda the same - but she was viciously attacked for it and i don't know why.

3. i never said it was more sinister. just poor taste. and not of high, or even medium, comedic value.

Other People's Shoes

This (formerly? currently?) atheist author challenges the seemingly paradoxical notion that some of the least fortunate among us have the most faith.

Community is back, and Dan Harmon is too.

Wednesday was the first day of Obamacare with respect to the individual mandate.  The negative stories have continued unabated.

This is an interesting corollary to the Duck Dynasty story (if you missed the ending, Phil Robertson's suspension was revoked after about 9 days and everything is back to the status quo ante).  Chris Kluwe, former punter of the Minnesota Vikings, has alleged that he was cut from the team at least in part because of his activism in favor of gay marriage.  The allegations have been disputed by the primary coach in question.

In other news, still more people think that Gravity is the best movie of 2013.

When I mentioned TED Talks to a friend, she told me she wasn't a fan.  Many of her criticisms were similar to what was mentioned in this TED Talk.

I've temporarily suspended my new music quest, in part because I heard this song - Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart."  I forgot how much I love Neil Young, and I tend to think that there's a lot of old music I still haven't discovered.  I heard part of this song in a podcast and immediately searched it out and bought the album, which is one of Neil Young's best.  The song has a lot of things I like - Young's slightly off but earnest and affecting vocals (I've never been a vocal purist), simple but nice harmonies, efficient arrangements, and focus on the guitar.  But there's something more intangible - I first heard the song on December 29, but it's pretty much describes my 2013.

Responses:

1. I thought this was going to be another juice cleanse.  I briefly cringed...  Upon reading, it might be a nice idea for this blog to change things up, but only if you're willing to commit to it.

2.  Nope.  Some of what the author said is interesting, but in my view, this minimizes the important roles of free will and judgment.  Take the rape example, for one.  There are tons of situations where men take advantage of women sexually, and they should be punished accordingly.  But there are also situations where the facts suggest not male aggression, but something different.  So how does society as a whole weigh in?  Well, sometimes we want to throw the book at someone, and sometimes we need to remember the idea of innocent until proven guilty (the social principle, not the legal one), and sometimes we should remember that, while being the victim of a crime is something that is squarely the fault of the criminal aggressor, there are things we can and should do to reduce our chances of being victimized.  If I have a daughter, I'm going to make sure that she knows how to defend herself, but also that she understands risky situations and knows to avoid them whenever possible.  In sum, the author has an interesting narrative, but I'm not persuaded that it describes actual reality.

3. This story didn't bother me that much.  I mean, I tend to think that the joke was in poor taste, but I don't know if it's a sign of something more sinister.

4. You're showing surprising discipline in light of Tony Gonzalez.

B

ringing in the new year

7 week new detox plan?

i'm not sure this is right but i think it's interesting - not to turn this into my feminist email chain.

the worst thing about this story is that the host was a black child raised in a largely white Mormon family and they went with "one of these is not like the other" as the joke

not that we need to add more data-using apps but this is an interesting idea

this is that love actually article